Comments by "Chaos Corner" (@chaos.corner) on "Technology Connections" channel.

  1. Stereo difference (along with some frequency filtering) is sometimes used to generate Karaoke tracks as the singer is typically placed in the center of the stereo stage while instruments are distributed. There are some Karaoke machine chips with this functionality built-in.
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  2. One option to employ is a post-heater mixer. This allows you to have much hotter water in the tank without making it dangerous for people using it. This means that in a shower, you use much less hot water per second and can get more time out of the same size of tank. I've actually been looking at one of these because there is not actually much space between "not hot enough for safety" and "too hot for safety". With this, you can move the heater to heat "too hot for safety" but have the water coming from the hot tap be fine.
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  3. One thing to bear in mind is that these seem to be a bit of a fad at the moment. If they're as annoying to use as it seems, that means there's likely to be a glut on the used market in the next couple of years. Like treadmills and scuba gear.
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  4. I wonder how a pressure cooker would be for forcing the moisture in.
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  5.  @sixty-six  No. Card payments can be made offline and transmitted at a later time. They won't be able to do the pre-charge though so they may limit how much you can pump.
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  6.  @KuramaKitsune1  Tried that. It was still dismal, if not even worse. Threw the whole thing away.
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  7.  @rosskwolfe  Crotch fruit.
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  8. Lights are frequently not adjusted correctly, especially for aftermarket fitments. I've had arguments with people about it too. People don't comprehend that not blinding oncoming vehicles is a safety issue.
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  9. I have engaged in the judicious use of wire cutters before.
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  10. One thing to bear in mind is that the throughput for gas pumps will likely be a lot higher for the forseeable future so costs will easier to justify (though trashcans, fair enough). The canopy makes sense too because people are basically outside the whole time they're filling where for an EV, you'd basically only be outside long enough to plug in and it wouldn't being used the rest of the charging cycle. Though with that said, I think solar powered canopies could be good for many parking spaces even without charging.
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  11. Quite a lot us preferred when phones had removable batteries so you could get back to a full battery in seconds. Also, many people do not have the option to charge at home. That's a problem that needs to be solved too.
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  12.  @StarDruid  You could probably beat a man to death with it and still get two perfectly done slices after too.
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  13. I dunno, we stopped doing the stopping for a meal on long trips. It's nicer to get there earlier and spend time winding down (especially as we had a few occasions where service/food took forever to arrive and the stop was closer to two hours than one). Take something homemade and you save money too.
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  14.  @millerrepin4452  Well the yeast starts coming.
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  15. 100% intentional. See also the toaster video.
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  16.  @kephir4eg  Thing is, my current dryer is still churning along after 22 years. With my experience with recent appliances, it would be a hard sell to get me to spend money on something that might not last long enough to make up the price difference.
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  17. It's not just kids. I've noticed it with some adults too.
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  18.  @LanceThumping  Yes. Someone else said the dried fruits were great in home-made icecream. Though I got some that were packaged and they were pretty good just as snacks.
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  19. Ramen need to be cooked for a while in my experience. A kettle works fine for cup noodles though. I actually prefer mine with the soup reduced to almost no loose liquid too.
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  20.  @Bob5mith  It is worth being aware, however that US homes do have 240V available and furthermore, that 240V is typically run to the kitchen where it is used by the stove. Having a nice high-wattage kettle is certainly not out of the question.
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  21.  @PaulN504  Also, for a while, electrical service was pretty much just for lighting and low power stuff. For many people, electric dryers would not have been an option.
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  22.  @garydiamondguitarist  Honestly? I got an air fryer basically for free and it get used a lot. It's basically a fast convection oven. Getting much more value out of it than the instant pot.
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  23.  @pendlera2959  Hear me out... Short shorts.
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  24.  @peterwein1716  Seeds are "fertilized" though. So that leads weird places. I think there's a species of fish or amphibians where the females are born 'pregnant'. (Edit: aphids, an insect).
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  25. I'm just waiting for the next couple of versions of USB where everything will just negotiate what voltage it needs up to from sub 5V up to 120/240V.
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  26.  @paulsengupta971  There's no end to the madness of that logic though. Until you finally get to a kettle that runs forever and never actually boils that is. All to save an insignificant amount of electricity.
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  27.  @David-lr2vi  When you're engine braking, the clutch is engaged and not wearing. 300,000 miles and the main issue with my gearbox is 1st is a little tricky these days.
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  28.  @literallycanadian  Pop over to Digikey, there's plenty listed. My wife's kiln is DPST, my stove is SPDT and, it's been a while but I believe my old AC thermostat relays were SPST too. I do think that DPDT will be more common in general as it covers a wider range of options.
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  29.  @RS-ls7mm  Even if it doesn't fail, companies these days are offering "lifetime support" where the "lifetime" can be as little as four years (or maybe less) from the date of purchase. IoT stuff is troublesome in its own right. Always pick stuff that can work standalone and, if possible, is ancillary to more simple equipment.
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  30.  @confusedwhale  Easier than walking out my back door any time I want to? That's a tall order.
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  31.  @krzysztofczarnecki8238  Mine has a beep so loud, I've considered disconnecting the speaker. It's a Bosch cordless and it echoes around the house in the middle of the night.
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  32. I have a Bosch with a single cup dispenser. I guess one option would be to just squirt some detergent on the door. It doesn't seem as if it would matter exactly where it is as long as it gets into the first cycle.
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  33.  @thedave1771  Over-hot water is also dangerous for some elderly.
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  34. There was actually a deal with those in the UK where the pin that went in the ground could break off and hold the shutters on the live and neutral open, making the sockets more dangerous rather than less (the UK ones sockets being safe in the first place anyway).
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  35. You can carry 5-10 extra gallons of gas (or more) with you without much difficulty. Can't do that with electrons.
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  36. I think it's an infrastructure and usage thing. There aren't enough electric car drivers to justify something that big. The networks out there apparently can't afford to keep their current chargers in good condition. Tesla has a vested interest in keeping theirs working as their car business requires a reliable charging network.
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  37. Probably not desirable from a safety perspective. Being out of sync makes individual vehicles stand out.
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  38. Have you documented this anywhere? I'm interested.
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  39. Also, single throw relays are not that uncommon. If you don't need the material for the other throw, it's wasted money.
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  40.  @jaysmith1408  With lot lizards?
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  41.  @adamthedog1  And potentially that mechanism which engages with the wobbly track? When the CD is in place, the puck goes up. May never have been properly implemented or could be broken.
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  42. Ooh. Chrome-wrapped home FTW.
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  43. I have electric/rechargeable lawn equipment and while I like it in theory (much lighter, no issues starting), the batteries don't last as long as I'd like, are expensive and have lost a bunch of their life over 4 years. Also, 40V is not quite enough for a push mower. I had a wired push mower and didn't like it at all. It was wheeled though. A hover mower might have been OK.
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  44.  @keiyakins It's a big reason my home is a lot less smart than it would be.
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  45.  @Magnum_Express  Lots of places banning wood stoves (California is one, I think). They may be more "green" but their emissions, especially smoke, are through the roof.
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  46.  @borandolph1267  Correct. And, in fact, to anyone paying attention at the time, it was clear that LEDs were going to catch up and overtake both CFL and incandescent and the legislation was entirely unnecessary.
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  47.  @VintageTechFan  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEtZBsJ_vmo&t=1m5s
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  48.  @HagarTopeka1  Good point. I think I must have heard that in the context of energy storage but he does mention extending the capacity too.
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  49.  @RelakS__  I don't but if gas stations were rare (the situation you were wondering about), I might. (The only time I experienced something like this was in Death Valley). I also have something like 6-700 miles of range on a full tank so there's that.
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  50.  @Nicholas-f5  If it were the early days of motoring and I was worried about running out of fuel, I probably wouldn't be too fussed and would probably have it attached to the outside of the vehicle anyway.
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